October 19, 2016 Vol. 43

DANI Days

Announcements To all families who are part of our Day Program, please keep mark your calendars

for our program closures on Monday, October 24 and Tuesday, October 25. Please note that on Friday, November 11 we will be beginning our Winter Friday schedule. Our Day Program will be closing at 2:00 on Fridays throughout the winter. As the weather is beginning to get colder, we would like to remind everyone to please dress appropriately for the weather. With so many of our programs taking place in the community, it is important to come prepared! Thank you all for your continued support of our newsletter. As always, everyone is encouraged to contribute photos, articles or ideas. Any contributions to the newsletter can be sent to Rachel Albert at newsletter@dani-toronto.com

DANI WOULD LIKE TO WISH EVERYONE L’SHANA TOVA!

DANI 501 Clark Avenue West Thornhill, ON, L4J 4E5

WWW.DANI-TORONTO.COM Phone: 905-889-3264

Email: info@dani-toronto.com

Contents Announcements........………..……..1 Mizvah of the Month ..………………1 Pop-Up Lunch………………….………..2 Uncle Moishy Concert……..………..2 Sukkot Gift Shop………….…..……….2 DANI Decorates for Sukkot.……….3 Art Night Updates……….……..……..3 Thank You, Steven...……………..…..3 Rosh Hashanah by Josh………..……4 Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur by Rita………………………………..…….4 The Holidays by Terri…….....….……4 Visting Caracas by Guitti……………5 Pop-Up Café by Alex…..……………..5 DANI Is Awesome by Noah.……….5 Pop-Up Lunch by Rita….…………….5 Tangamong by Carolyn……………..6 Work Placement Updates………….6 What We’re Working On……………6 Can You Imagine? by Deborah.....7

Mitzvah of the Month

We would like to remind everyone to please take part in our Mitzvah of the Month! All month, DANI will be collecting food in a blue bin outside the DANI Centre to support Chasdei Kaduri, an organization that collects and packages food for Jewish families who are in need. For more information about this amazing organization, please visit their website at www.chasdeikaduri.org Rita has set the bar high with a goal of filling the bin 200 times, so please help us reach our goal by bringing in non-perishable food items. Every little bit helps!

To check out DANI's Sukkah decorations, see page 3 To find out what our Art class has been working on, see page 3

mailto:newsletter@dani-toronto.comhttp://www.chasdeikaduri.org/

October 19, 2016 Vol. 43

Our New Pop-Up Lunch Partner!

Our Pop-Up Lunch crew loves to make new community connections! This week, our team visited MegaComfort Insoles for the first time. MegaComfort gives back to the community in many ways, including unique orthotics that help so many people!

We would like to thank Barbara and Kevan Orvitz and their amazing team for hosting us, and we are looking forward to our next visit!

Our Pop-Up Lunch program provides COR dairy lunch options prepared by the DANI kitchen, and served at your location by a crew of our young adults. To find out more about our program, please visit our website at: http://dani-toronto.com/corporate-catering/the-pop-up-lunch/

Our Pop-Up Lunch crew at MegaComfort

DANI’s Gifts for Sukkot

Still looking for gifts for Sukkot? Look no further than DANI’s Gift Shop! Our shop offers beautiful gifts that include a personalized Yom Tov card. Money raised from sales goes directly toward DANI’s programs to support adults with disabilities. To place an order to for more information, please call us at 905-778-3264 ext. 231 Our shop is located at 501 Clark Ave West, and we also have an online store open 24/7 for your convenience. Visit us online at: https://store.dani-toronto.com/

Gifts from the DANI Gift Shop, perfect for any occasion!

Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men

DANI is very excited to present the annual Uncle Moishy and the Mitzvah Men concert! This year, the concert will be held on Sunday, November 13 at 3 pm at Bais Yaakov Elementary School. Tickets are available for $25 each, or $5 for children under age 2. Tickets will also be available at the door for $30 or $100 for a family of four. Sponsorship opportunities are also available, which include reserved priority seating and a full tax receipt. Tickets can be purchased online at www.dani-toronto.com For more information or to purchase your tickets, please contact us at 905-889-3264 ext. 231 or email info@dani-toronto.com

http://dani-toronto.com/corporate-catering/the-pop-up-lunch/http://dani-toronto.com/corporate-catering/the-pop-up-lunch/https://store.dani-toronto.com/http://www.dani-toronto.com/http://www.dani-toronto.com/mailto:info@dani-toronto.com

October 19, 2016 Vol. 43

DANI Decorates for Sukkot

This year, DANI was honoured to receive a Sukkah generously donated by David and Debbie Diamond. Last week, boys from Yeshivat Or Chaim, Bnei Akiva Schools visited to help us put it together. We would like to give them a big thank you for all of their help! Our Day Program also got involved by helping to decorate the inside. We even decided to use some of our artwork remaining from last year’s Art Night to decorate it! We all had a great time decorating the Sukkah and we are looking forward to enjoying our meals in it during Sukkot!

The Day Program group decorating the Sukkah Art Night Updates

We are all very excited to be working on new pieces for this year’s Art Night. Over the past few weeks, we have started to really focus on some of our countries of origin. So far, we have worked on artwork representing Czech Republic’s Day of Love celebrations, a holiday similar to Valentine’s Day that is celebrated with wreathes of flowers. We have also spent a lot of time talking about Canada, and the maple leaf as our symbol. Last week, we also started to learn about The Group of Seven, some of the most famous Canadian artists. We really challenged ourselves by trying to recreate some of their most famous paintings. It was tough, but a lot of fun! Please stay tuned in future newsletters for more information about this year’s Art Night. We can’t wait for everyone to see all of our hard work!

Left: Jesse G. works on his recreation of a painting by the Group of Seven Right: Leiba chooses flowers for her art representing the Czech Republic's

Day of Love Thank You, Steven!

Our DANI Days newsletter really is a lot of fun, but also a lot of work! Each week, participants in our newsletter group spend an hour working with staff to write their articles. This year, our group has been focusing on including as much detail as possible, and answering the “5 W’s” in their articles. We would like to give a special thank you to one member of our newsletter team – Steven! Each week, the rough drafts of the article are passed on to Steven, who spends another hour or so helping to type them so the final copies are easily accessible in one place. It is a huge help to Rachel when it comes time to edit and put it all together into the final newsletter. Thank you for all of your help, Steven!

Steven working hard to type up our newsletter articles

October 19, 2016 Vol. 43

Rosh Hashanah By Josh

My dad and I went to people’s houses to give them cookies. We got the cookies from DANI. We said “Happy new year” and then we left. The first night, I stayed home. My cousins came over and I played with the kids. We played hide and seek. My mom cooked dinner. We had soup, chicken, potatoes and cake for dessert. The soup was my favourite part. On the second night, me and my mom went to my uncle’s house. My dad stayed home. I have two cousins. They are younger than me. We ate soup, challah, chicken, potatoes and salad. There was cake for dessert. On Monday, we went to visit my neighbour because he is sick. On Tuesday, me and my mom and my dad went to Walmart to get food for the house.

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur By Rita

I want to talk about Rosh Hashanah. We went to Susan’s apartment for Rosh Hashanah. We took the subway to get there. We ate apples and honey, and gave best wishes for our families. We wished “shana tova” to everybody to have a sweet new year. Rosh Hashanah is a Jewish holiday. We had candles, and we ate challah. I was celebrating it with my family and my cousins, and we are starting a new year at DANI. I hope everybody had a good Rosh Hashanah. Yom Kippur began on Tuesday at sundown and it was also on Wednesday. It is a special holiday. We said a prayer and we had kosher food. My mom prepared the food and I helped out. I ate brisket with my family. It was the last meal before the fast for Yom Kippur. We said a prayer to ask for forgiveness for the people we have wronged and to ask for understanding for the people who help us. I hope everybody had a good Yom Kippur.

Above: Rita celebrating Rosh Hashanah with her family Below: Rita's Yom Kippur desserts

The Holidays By Terri

For Rosh Hashanah, I had dinner at my house the first night. My mom’s family came over and so did Carolyn. I spent time with everyone. On the second night, I went to my mom’s sister’s house. My mom and my dad drove us to my mom’s sister’s house. Dinner started around 8 and we were finished at 11. We said the prayers and we ate apples and honey. We also had honey on the challah. Then we had dinner. We had meat, chicken, and fish. We had ice cream, cookies and pie for dessert. I like the holiday because everyone was celebrating the new year and talked about what happened last year. My favourite part was when people came over. I liked that Carolyn came over so we could be together. We eat apples and honey because we want the new year to be good. On Yom Kippur, I am going to shul and I might go to the pond to throw in the bread. In the afternoon, I will stay home and then go back to shul to hear the shofar. We stand up and we listen to it. I’m going to fast. We are going to my mom’s friend’s house to break the fast after.

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Visiting Caracas By Guitti

I came to Caracas last week on Thursday. I travelled with my mother and my nephew Yossi. My niece Rikky met us in Miami. I spent Rosh Hashanah with my family. My father and my brother-in-law Shui are the rabbis in our shul. The shul is beautiful. It’s big and a lot of people came. Today (Thursday) I went to work in Shui’s office. He made me responsible to sort all the money in the tzedaka boxes. I love being with my family but it is hard to live in Caracas because sometimes there is no electricity or phones or water. It is hard to get Kosher food and medicine, and many people suffer in the streets. I have to go everywhere with other people or a special driver. But Caracas is beautiful. It has green mountains all around it and a beach on one side. It is always warm here and we never have to use coats. I was born in Caracas, even though I am never late and don’t say manana (tomorrow)!!

Pop-Up Cafe by Alex

I go with Ash, Melanie, Eli and Terri. I work with Ash or Melanie. I am the cashier. I take the money from the customer. We sell egg wraps, tuna wraps, Caesar salad and house salad. We sell cookies for dessert. Sometimes we have pizza slices. I put the box. The label says DANI. I carry the money box. It is heavy! I put the box on the table. I tell the customers how much their food costs. I take the money and I put it in the box. I give them their change, and I say bye. We went to CHAT. We go southbound to Wilmington. We also go to North space and Cornerstone. I do Pop-Up Cafe on Wednesday every week We get there at 11:30 and finish at 1:00. We get back to DANI at 1:30, and I eat lunch. We do Pop-Up Cafe because people need to have lunch. I like Pop-Up Cafe because the lunches are yummy! We work for 2 hours. I give the money box to Kathy at the end. Alex with his Pop-Up Lunch team

DANI Is Awesome! By Noah

Today I would like to tell you about Danny. I like him very much because he is friendly and good. He is nice to me. Danny is very funny. He makes jokes. I found out that DANI is named after Danny! What can I tell you about DANI? I think this place is great because here I overcame my fear of dogs. I learned to like Kasper. I am even passing by him without being scared of him. Sometimes when Kasper barks he can be scary, but when he lies down and he is calm, he is fine and even cute. We have great staff over here. All of them are trying to help us and to teach us all kinds of things. I enjoy the sports activities that we have here, like walking to the park, swimming, and playing basketball. Other classes that we have are Drama and Independent Living Skills, where we learn to fold our laundry, wash dishes, and shine cutlery.

Noah helps to sweep the program room after lunch as part of the Independent Living Skills class

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Tangamong By Carolyn

Tangamong is a huge lake with beautiful trees and leaves changing. I was at the cottage. In the morning, I woke up and I had breakfast. Then I got dressed and I went fishing with my dad. I got a phone call from Matt. I took pictures of the fall leaves. We went back to the cottage to have lunch. Then my dad and I went back out for fishing and I took more pictures, and we came back to the cottage and I called my grandpa. Then I called Marianne, and then it was dinner. After that, I went to take a shower and I got in my PJs and I was chilling on the couch by the fireplace. My dad made me some herbal tea and I went to bed. Tanagamon was so much fun!

Carolyn's photo of Tangamong Lake

Work Placement Updates: The Bathurst Clark Library

At DANI, we are always excited to find opportunities to give back to our communities. This year, we are very happy to have a brand new partnership for vocational training – at the Bathurst Clark Library!

So far, our partnership has led to one new work placement. Each week, Guitti works in the children’s section of the library to help keep it clean and organized. She helps to make sure the toys are put away and that books were put back on the shelves in the right place.

We would like to thank the staff of the Bathurst Clark Library for giving us the opportunity to give back to our local library, and we are looking forward for more opportunities to help out in the future!

Guitti organizing the toys in the children's section of the library

What We’re Working On

Even the holidays can’t stop us from our favourite activities! Every Friday morning, our group bakes delicious challah to bring home and share with their friends and family for Shabbat. This is one of our highlights of the week, and we have as much fun baking the challah as we have eating it!

Our Fitness class has been enjoying the last of the warm weather at the park, where they are learning some of the basics of basketball. Our Dance class is having a lot of fun challenging ourselves to come up with new moves every week to make our very own dance!

Our Book Study group has finished the first chapter of this year’s classic, Anne of Green Gables. We are very excited to find out what happens next!

Terri, Carolyn and Tanya baking challah

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CAN YOU IMAGINE? By Deborah

I moved to Thornhill just over 16 years ago, all the way from Bathurst Manor. For those readers who are not familiar with Bathurst Manor, it was once considered a very Jewish neighbourhood. There were two synagogues in that area, Beth Emeth and Beth Jacob. The high school CHAT existed in the neighbourhood, and there was also a vibrant plaza, somewhat similar to our Spring Farm plaza in Thornhill. Moving to Thornhill was actually an adjustment for me. I was surprised to discover this, for it wasn't like I was moving to another city, province or country. One of the many challenges I faced upon moving to this area, was finding a synagogue that I was comfortable with, a synagogue that felt like home to me, just like the synagogue I attended when growing up and living in Bathurst Manor. So this Rosh Hashanah, I once again renewed my membership with the synagogue that I joined 16 years ago, like how I do every year, since I moved to the Thornhill area. But I knew deep down, I wouldn't be attending services there, for it just never felt like home to me, and unfortunately, it still doesn't feel like home. However, this year I was provided an opportunity to attend High Holiday services at another synagogue, and test the waters, as they say. I graciously accepted this offer. As I sat in the room, listening to the Chazan, I looked around my surroundings. And what I saw absolutely astonished me. This was the first time, where I saw the Thornhill Jewish community come together and unite as one. This was the first time, where I saw individuals who are Egalitarian, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox pray together and unite over the High Holiday prayers, leaving their political viewpoints and beliefs outside the synagogue doors. Then I got to thinking, if the community can pull together, and unite as one, over the High Holidays, just imagine the possibilities of the community pulling together and uniting as one to erase the stigma of all disabilities, whether it be a physical or a developmental disability, or even mental health illness. Can you imagine living in a community where a person with a disability can leave their home and feel welcomed by all around them, where the individual with the disability doesn't feel like they are being judged or looked down upon? Can you imagine a community where the individual with the disability knows that should they need help, they can just go to another individual and ask for assistance, without wondering if the person assisting them is going to then gossip about them and their disability to friends and family? Can you imagine a community where individuals with disabilities are valued and looked favorably upon? Can you imagine? So this High Holiday, as I sit and listen to the Chazan, while looking around the room at my surroundings, I will continue to imagine, and hopefully, the imagination will one day become a reality for all of us who are personally living with a disability, like myself, or for those who have family members living with a disability.

Shana Tova to all of you, my dear readers.